World of Worcraft or WOW as it is known to many, has taken the gaming world by storm and this week our very own Becky Brand would like to tell you all about it. As an avid gamer, I feel she is far more equipped to write about it than me.
World of Warcraft (or WoW) is the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Blizzard Entertainment. Warcraft initially started out as a series of three games ending in Warcraft 3 with World of Warcraft being set after these games.
When you start the game you need to create an avatar which you will control as you explore the fictional world of Azeroth. You have a choice of two sides; either the Alliance or the Horde with each side having a number of different races that you can play as including Trolls, Dwarfs, Humans, Gnomes and Orcs.
Whether you're a particularly brave player or a reclusive one you can choose to be different characters that have different tatics. You may choose to be a mage who blasts your enemies with spells from a distance or choose to be a Warrior, who charges in and takes the full wrath of the enemies up front. The game caters for most people, so depending on the kind of character you like to play you can choose from different classes including Priests, Rogues, Paladins, and Shamans. Once your character has been created, you need to get stronger in order to tackle stronger enemies and bosses. You will need to quest in order to earn level ups, armour upgrades and new skills.
With approximately 12 million subscribers worldwide, World of Warcraft is one of the biggest online role playing games. Contrary to popular belief; it's not just teenage boys lacking in social ability who play World of Warcraft as it genuinely does appeal to many.
Whilst travelling around you will bump into parents sneaking a quick hour in whilst their kids sleep, men and women who use Warcraft to relax after a hard days work, much in the same way many people will watch their soaps of an evening. The folklore in World of Warcraft is so deep and vast it's almost like an interactive Lord of the Rings.
Admittedly you rarely actually meet the people you play with in Warcraft, but when you keep bumping into the same characters in game, or join a guild with a good group of players, you start to form acquaintances and friendships with the other players. There has even been a few couples who met in the World of Warcraft and ended up being happily married - the game can be a really good social experience if thats what you make it to be.
Your character can take on a particular role within the group if you decide to group up with other characters; for example Priests heal, warriors tank and mages deal the damage. There is even the option of forming a raid group of up to 40 characters to try and overcome the extra strong bosses that are scattered across the lands.
The fact that, when playing WOW, you can always strive to earn better armour so you can defeat the biggest bosses in the game, or try and earn the in game achievements for different titles and rewards means the name literally never comes to an end. Blizzard also periodically introduce expansions, which raise the maximum level, and introduce new content and areas to the game.
Warcraft is a very lucrative business, its luring the players in with all of its merchandise, accessories and books. These go hand in hand with the millions of subscriptions worldwide making it like any good franchise.